Exciting shark research from Samantha Leigh, former Hiver and currently Assistant Professor at CSU Dominguez Hills, titled “Shark intestines may operate as Tesla valves” has been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (PRSB)!
Dr. Leigh’s research used CT scanners to image shark’s intestines in more than 20 shark species! The results revealed shark intestines have complex, spiraling shapes that resemble the loops of the Tesla valve. Dr. Leigh said, “My hope is to figure out what these particular morphologies are good at moving along, what they’re good at filtering out.”
Click here to read more about Dr. Leigh’s exciting shark research!
A scan of a shark’s intestines reveals its spiral shape. Video by Samantha Leigh
Reference: Leigh, S. C., Summers, A. P., Hoffmann, S. L., & German, D. P. (2021). Shark spiral intestines may operate as Tesla valves. Proceedings. Biological sciences, 288(1955), 20211359. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1359